A connection terminal of this type is used for connecting a conductor in an electrically contacting manner. A connection terminal of this type may, for example, be used on a printed circuit board as a print terminal to connect a conductor to the printed circuit board or as series terminals to electrically connect a plurality of conductors to one another. Basically, connection terminals of the type discussed herein can be used for completely different purposes and in completely different embodiments.
A connection terminal of this type comprises a housing, an insertion opening, which is arranged on the housing and into which a conductor can be inserted in an insertion direction, and a contact element, which is arranged on the housing and with which the conductor can be brought into contact by insertion into the insertion opening. Furthermore, a spring element is arranged on the housing and is held on the housing by means of a spring body and has a resiliently movable spring leg extending from the spring body. This spring leg is configured to clamp a conductor inserted into the insertion opening to the contact element in a clamping position in such a way that the conductor is held on the contact element in an electrically contacting manner.
To allow simple insertion of a conductor into the insertion opening in a manner requiring little force, arranged on the housing is an actuating element, which can be actuated in an actuation direction to move the spring leg out of the clamping position. By actuating the actuating element, the spring leg can therefore be removed from the contact element so a conductor can easily and without a great expenditure of force be pushed into the insertion opening into a position between the contact element and the spring leg and can be clamped to the contact element by means of the spring leg.
Likewise, the actuating element can be actuated to release a conductor from the connection terminal. By removing the spring leg from the contact element and by cancelling the clamping connection, the conductor can easily be pulled out of the insertion opening.
Because it can be laborious to hold an actuating element in position manually or using a suitable tool so as to place a conductor on the connection terminal, it is provided in a connection terminal known from DE 10 2008 039 232 A1 to lock the actuating element to the housing of the connection terminal in an open position, in which the spring leg is moved out of the clamping position. When the actuating element is pressed into the housing in the actuation direction, the actuating element acts on the spring leg of the connection terminal and presses it out of its clamping position, wherein the actuating element locks to the housing and is thereby held in its open position. This therefore, in a simple manner, allows a conductor to be positioned on the connection terminal or to be removed from the connection terminal, wherein after positioning the conductor or after removal of the conductor, the locking of the actuating element to the housing can in turn be released to return the spring leg into its clamping position.